5 ways to book a cheap flight

So it’s time to get down to booking those flights for the summer timeshare break, once again. But what’s the best way to grab a real deal?

If you follow some basic rules, chances are you’ll get a surprisingly reasonable fare.

Don’t fly at weekends…fly mid-week to mid-week…Tuesday is the best day of all…there are lots of tips around on how to bag the cheapest flights, so here are five ways to save on your next one.

1.It’s official, say the experts – Tuesdays are the best day to fly.

2.It depends where you’re going. Different destinations have different optimal advance booking times. For example you’ll want to book about seven weeks in advance for flights to Malaga, but if you’re heading for Bangkok, you’ll want to factor in much more of a cushion – something like eighteen weeks in advance. Palma, say the experts would be four weeks, Alicante is five weeks ahead. But if you can’t be bothered to follow these rules, try…

3.The “monthly flight search”. Instead of plugging in your estimated departure and return dates, try the monthly search boxes – EasyJet for example has a very clear table of the cheapest flight dates across a one month span.

4.Be flexible about your destination. Sometimes you don’t “have” to take a week’s holiday in Malaga, so if flights to other Spanish destinations are cheaper, why not switch?

5. Advance bookings. It used to be that the later you left things, the cheaper the last minute flight deal would be, but that has reversed completely. Flights go up in price the nearer it gets to your departure date. If you already know you’ll be flying to Crete in late September, for example, book those flights – with insurance – as early as possible. The difference between booking well ahead and leaving it closer to your departure date can add up – by over £100 pp, which for a family of four could rack up to over £400.

Have you found any great flight deals recently? What’s your top tip for getting the best fares online?Tweet us at @Gotimeshare